Man Fulfills Fantasy, Buys Own Island

DELAND — Jim Patterson bought his own version of Fantasy Island by becoming the highest bidder for an island the Volusia County government wanted to unload.

Patterson said living 20 years in Hawaii fueled a desire to have his own island. He satisfied that desire late Monday by paying $32,000 for Lungren Island, an 1.8-acre patch of high land in the middle of the St. Johns River.

Now, he is not sure exactly what he will do with the island, which is between the communities of Volusia and Astor. The Florida Department of Environmental Regulation and other governmental agencies tightly control development on such islands and it may be impossible to build on Patterson's new possession.

''You can't own your own island in Hawaii, that's for sure,'' he said. ''It's a beautiful little place. Maybe I can make a game preserve or something.''

Patterson, 53, developer of Buckminister Fuller Park at the DeLand Municipal Airport, said he at least will save the island from boaters who stop on it and leave trash in their wake.

The island was one of 121 parcels the county put on the auction block. Several people bid against Patterson, and the $32,000 price surprised county administrators.

''I had no idea it would go that high,'' said Brenda Thompson, a buyer for the county purchasing department who coordinated the sale.

All 121 parcels eventually were sold, for a total of $491,795, Thompson said Tuesday, after adding up the auction results.

Three lots, across from Southridge Golf Course in DeLand, each zoned for residential uses and each large enough for a homesite, sold for the best price, Thompson said. Two DeLand businessmen, Richard and William Gardner, paid a total of $55,500 for the lots.

County administrators and auctioneers from Higgenbotham Realty Inc., the Lakeland firm that conducted the sale, had predicted those three lots would be hot sellers.

Many of the parcels in the auction are too small for development and were sold for a few hundred dollars each. Most of them were bought by adjoining landowners to increase their holdings.

County council members and administrators decided to hold the auction to get land the county had accumulated over the decades back into private hands. Council members and administrators said they saw no public use for the parcels and wanted them back on the tax rolls.

Most of the land had been seized by the county for unpaid taxes. Other parcels were donated to the county but were too small for public use.